The judge on Friday rejected Justin Bardoni’s last and final bid, leaving Taylor Swift behind, apparently ending his efforts to drag the pop star into a continuing legal war with Blake Lively.
Judge Lewis Liman ruled that Bardoni’s lawyers were too long to try to schedule Swift’s depository and had not provided sufficient reasons to extend the September 30th deadline.
“The requested extension was denied because of failure to demonstrate proper diligence,” Liman wrote.
Control capped the Topsy Twoby days when Swift was thought to be able to use himself to testify. In filing Thursday, Bardoni’s attorney said Swift agreed to sit for deposition between October 20-25, and sought court permission to extend the deposition deadline for that purpose.
Swift’s lawyer responded Friday, saying, “There is no important role in this action.”
“And also, my client did not agree to the deposit,” wrote lawyer Douglas Baldridge. He added that if she is forced to deposit, she could be available in the week of October 20th.
Bardoni’s part was believed to be interested in the arguments that Swift may have lived through about the conditions of the set, “It ends with us.” Baldoni’s team previously got court permission to retrieve messages between Lively and Swift after Lively’s team tried to exclude Swift entirely.
In a filing Friday, Lively’s team extended the deadline to address Swift’s deposit, questioning the relevance of her testimony and opposed accusing Bardoni’s attorney of causing unnecessary delays.
Both sides are nearing completion of their discovery in famous cases.
Lively sued her director and co-star Baldoni for sexual harassment and retaliation, claiming that he and the film producer and spokesperson have launched an online smear campaign against her to punish her for causing a complaint. A trial is scheduled for next spring in federal court in New York.
The vitality has already been removed. Her team has yet to take deposits from Bardoni and co-defendants Stephen Sarowitz and Jamie Heath. In a motion Thursday, her lawyer said Bardoni’s team had limped to prepare the requested document by calling for an extension of the deadline for deposits from September 30 to October 10.
Liman granted the request and ordered these three deposits to be completed by the extension date.
In their request, Lively’s lawyers also said they hope that Baldoni’s team will seek a 30-day extension for all discoveries. In response Thursday, Bardoni said that it is not true and that it is only seeking an extension so that Swift’s deposits can be taken in the week of October 20th-25th.
Bardoni asked the court to extend the deadline solely for “the purpose of responding to third-party witness Taylor Swift, who agreed to appear in the depositary but could not do so by October 20, 2025.”
The Lively team claimed that Baldoni’s part had not taken any steps to schedule Swift’s deposit prior to this week. Swift’s lawyer, Baldridge, also said he had not noticed the issue until three days ago.
Bardoni’s lawyers opposed the request for Lively on the blanket extension. The two previously agreed to hold the deposit of Bardoni on September 21-22, and held the deposition of Sarowitz on September 15 and Heath on September 18-19. Lively’s team argues that Baldoni’s lawyers are defiing the court’s order to quickly hand over signal messages, and as a result, it requires more time to prepare.
The Lively team claims that Baldoni’s side has repeatedly dragged Swift into the case to attract media attention. Bardoni’s lead lawyer, Brian Friedman, had heard that Lively was trying to put pressure on him to issue a statement of support for Swift, claiming that Lively urged Swift to remove communications. The judge filed the motion from court records.
Bardoni’s team previously summoned Swift to communicate, but the summons were later withdrawn.
Liman’s ruling and the vibrant ones have been updated in response to Bardoni’s claim that Swift “consent” the deposit.
